The course enables students to:

• Acquire and communicate knowledge and understanding of the periods studied.
• Develop understanding of historical terms and concepts.
• Explore the significance of events, individuals, issues and societies in history.
• Understand the nature of historical evidence, and how to analyse and evaluate it.
• Understand how the past has been interpreted and represented.
• Develop understanding of the nature of historical study.
• Develop their interest and enthusiasm for history.

Through completing the course students develop high-level transferable skills that are valued by higher education and employers. A GCSE in History is highly recommended but not compulsory for entry to the course.

Unit 1 - A World Divided: Communism and Democracy in the 20th Century
Russia in Revolution 1881 - 1924

• The making of a revolution
• The Downfall of the Romanov's
• The Bolshevik Triumph
• The making of a totalitarian state – Creating the Soviet State

Pursuing Life and Liberty: Equality in the USA, 1945-68

• The social and economic position of black citizens in the USA
• Martin Luther King and peaceful protest
• Black Power and the use of violence
• The changing economic and social environment of the 1960s

Examination 1 Hr 20 mins

Unit 2 - Conflict and change in 19th & 20th Century Britain
Britain 1860-1930: The Changing Position of Women and the Suffrage Question

• The changing personal status of women
• Women's changing role within the political system
• Attitudes of politicians, Parliament and the public to the suffrage question
• Changing educational opportunities for women and girls and the impact of these for workplace opportunities; the opening of universities and professions to women.

Examination 1 Hr 20 mins

When students continue to A2, and most students do, there are two further study units:

UNIT 3- War and Peace: 20th Century International Relations
A World Divided: Superpower Relations: Superpower Relations, 1944-90

• The post-Stalin thaw and the bid for peaceful co-existence: Khrushchev and the response of Dulles, Eisenhower and Kennedy
• The arms race, 1949-63: nuclear technology; delivery systems; the Cuban missile crisis; the Test Ban Treaty
• Sino-Soviet relations, 1949-76: alliance to confrontation in Asia and its impact on US policy
• Détente, 1969-1980: the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) and agreements; Helsinki Accords; the impact of economic realities.

Written examination 2 Hrs

Unit 4 - Historical Enquiry
Germany United and Divided, 1890-1991

• Germany involvement in the First World War and its consequences.
• The rise and fall of Nazism in Germany
• The partition of German and the contrasting development and foreign relations in East and West Germany.
• The reasons for the reuniting of Germany in 1991

Coursework 4,000 words (in 2 parts)